Nightswimming
by Scruff the Rat
Summary: "You, I thought I knew you. You, I cannot judge." A series of stories dedicated to Ozzie Burroughs...set to the songs of REM...Rated for later chapters.
1. Nightswimming

**I always end up adding an OC into my stories—whether by appearance or by mere mention. It's a habit of mine that's been with me since childhood. Even as a tyke, I always made myself one of the characters in whatever show or movie I was watching or book I was reading. Am I ashamed of this? Not really—in fact I rather like inserting someone or something of my imagination into my works—makes me feel as if I've actually contributed to the canon world already established.**

**Anyway, now that my rambling is complete, there are a few choice notes I'd like to give everyone the heads up on:**

**1. All of these chapters/mini-shots will circle around Ozzie Burroughs, an original character of mine. Read his description on my profile and my Deviantart profile (Kooky4U) to receive the full info.**

**2. These pieces will, more often than not, involve some level of romance or friendship. I'll throw in a bit of humor, family, or other genres to spice this up a bit; other than that, though, do expect mushiness ahead.**

**3. I've also added music cues. The names of songs will be indicated by parenthesized words in bold, followed by either their source or their composer. I own none of the songs I will use in this series. They'll stop with a cue in a similar way.**

* * *

A young fox kit wandered around the edge of a large, silvery, moonlit lake, his twin tails swaying in the soft, cool breeze. Aside from his typical, red-and-white shoes, his only clothing was a dark orange jacket.

Billions upon billions of stars far above him dotted the vast, ebony sky, the light of an arm of the planet's galaxy snaking across like a giant, glowing snake.

But the Moon was the true center of attention. Set into its full phase, the silvery-white orb dangled like a ball left forgotten by the children of the gods, the outlines of its craters visible in the distance.

If only Tails Prower could bring himself to enjoy such a scene.

He'd come here in search of a friend, but to no avail so far. This search had been going on since the late afternoon—ever since Amy Rose mentioned that a certain someone never showed up at the Rabbit household.

This happening in itself worried Tails. The missing person, despite being as quiet and almost as secretive as Shadow, never once missed out on seeing the sweet-faced Cream, her adorable cherub, Cheese, and their kind-hearted mother Vanilla, all of whom were worried sick for him as well.

Hence why Tails came here; he and his friends agreed to split up in search of their elusive friend. The fox had searched in the all places he could think of where the person could be, and, more often than not, he chanced upon one, two, or even three of his friends being there as well. He did not consider these reencounters good signs.

Eventually, the search party narrowed down to Tails, Amy, and Sonic, the fox's first best friend and the rose's self-proclaimed boyfriend. Everyone else had either tired out or, in the case of Cream and Cheese, had to return home before curfew. It wasn't as if they didn't care; they simply didn't see the sense in losing sleep over someone who always came back on his own accord.

_'As much as Amy, Sonic, and I know that, too...we can't help this feeling that something's wrong this time.'_ Something was amiss..._terribly_ amiss. The question was: what?

_'Is this the place Sonic told me about, by the way? I can't see anyone out here.'_ Tails furrowed his eyebrows in concern as his bright blue eyes scanned the area; he seriously hoped he'd come across the right place this time.

He could see in the dark just fine, with or without his active flashlight. His natural night-vision was more than enough. The moonlight helped a little, too.

Unfortunately, none of these aids were enough to ease his search. All the fox could see around him were the numerous, deciduous trees that formed a thick wall of vegetation and wood around the grassy clearing and its lake.

Tails slowly shook his head and gave off a heavy sigh then held his head with one hand as the worry began to manifest into tears that threatened to leave his eyes.

A laugh escaped him when he noticed the tears, though. He wiped some of the moisture away with a sheepish smile. _'I guess I'm still a softie deep down, even after everything I've seen and been through.'_

"Tails?"

With everything else so silent, the sudden voice sounded explicably loud in spite of its softness, startling Tails so badly that he nearly jumped out of his fur. Turning around, the lupine discovered a chubby, slightly taller mole with midnight-black fur and a peach underbelly standing about a foot behind him, his deep, chocolate eyes speaking volumes for his concern towards the weeping junior in spite of his near lack of words.

The mole stepped a bit closer to the kit, putting down the large golf-bag he'd been toting over his shoulder. He pointed at the fox then made an "okay" gesture, punctuating it with a tilt of his head.

Tails chuckled at the gestures, already understanding what his friend was trying to ask him. "I'm okay, Ozzie...especially now that I've found you. Everyone's been searching all over for you."

Ozzie narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Yeah, everyone's been looking for you all day," Tails continued in a somewhat accusing tone and with a gentle but displeased frown. "Where were you? You had us all worried sick!"

These words triggered Ozzie's sense of empathy, as well as his conscience, making the mole heavily sigh then look away from Tails in shame. This display of regret quickly melted the fox's already weak façade of anger. Tails could never bring himself to stay mad at the burrower for long.

Tails tilted his head as his sky-blue eyes shone with evident worry. He took a step towards Ozzie. "Did something happen today, Ozzie? You look kind of angry."

This observation was true. Usually, the mole had a distant, tired look in his eyes; not this time, however. Both his body and his eyes were more alert than usual; and Tails didn't miss the tightening that spasmed throughout the mole's muscles, particularly the ones in the jaw.

And just as quickly as the tension came to Ozzie, it vanished, the mole exhaling a great deal of air before looking back at Tails.

_'You have to tell him,'_ his conscience reasoned. _'He's your friend and has been worried for you all day. Telling him is the least you can do.'_

Smiling for the first time today, Ozzie draped one of his thick arms around Tails' shoulders and guided the curious fox to the edge of the lake, where they sat together, their haunches kissed by the cool dew of the grass, their reflections clear yet melted in the water.

Tails could only feel the need to have his questions answered increasing by the second at Ozzie's behavior, wondering what the mole was trying to convey. "Ozzie, what's—"

"Shh." That interjection was the only thing that left Ozzie's lips before the mole gestured two of his fingers to his own eyes, closing his eyelids as he pulled the digits down.

The meaning didn't lose itself on Tails who, despite his still growing befuddlement, followed the mole's unspoken orders. With his vision now restricted to the darkness of his eyelids, the fox felt the solid forehead of his earthbound big brother gently touch his, the warmth of the mole's body much stronger than the parasitic cold of the night.

Not that Tails noticed anymore—torrents of memories already consumed him in their embrace.

The Bloodlink had taken effect.

* * *

_Darkness...nights...starless nights...earth...ground...barren ground... almost barren ground actually..._

_Save for the massive, multi-spiked tower of stalagmites protruding from the side of an even more imposing mountain..._

_At one point, all of this monument will have eroded away in nothing but plain and dust. And as Talpideans knew, such times were not as far off as most mortals think. _

_Ozzie Burroughs didn't care. He knew his memory of this place would remain inside his mind, preserved even in death._

_He glanced at a pebble near his feet before listlessly kicking it away, its pattering heavily echoing in the dark quiet. It only seemed fitting he'd returned to his former birthplace. After all, he'd been born here twice—thrice if you count his time as—_

_No! Don't go there! Never go there! Never again!_

**_'I am Ozzie Burroughs. No one else. Nothing else. I am a Talpidean. I am me. And I am...,'_**_ He let his head drop in realization, __**'quite possibly the lousiest of stepsons, friends, **__and __**big brothers.'**_

_How long ago had he been gone already? Late morning by the time he'd left...and nighttime had been set for about four hours by now._

_So he'd been gone for about half a day? That meant half a day for his newfound friends and family to be worried sick for him—without him even bothering to think about them once until this very moment._

_Lovely move, Ozzie._

_Maybe he was still getting used to having so many friends and family members. Even during his time with his uncle Gabriel, Ozzie normally spent most of the time by himself, either perfecting his geokinesis or his Primal Form, or just simply thinking and reflecting._

_Times were different. Things were different._

_He had a family this time—a more complete one, too. He had friends—real friends, not fabrications manifested by a madman. And most importantly, he had a home._

_A place to return to everyday..._

_A place to feel warm and safe..._

_A place to be in the arms of loved ones..._

_So what was he doing here instead, surrounded by memories upon memories of pain and loneliness?_

_Paying his respects—nothing else...because this would be the last this place would ever see of him again._

**_'I've spent enough time mourning for the past. I have a future now. And this time, no one's taking it away from me, not even the gods.'_**

_Reaching into his golf-bag, his resolve strong as ever, Ozzie pulled out a single bouquet of white lilies, no wrapping at all and all of them handpicked personally by the mole himself. Since this visit would be the last one he'd ever pay to this wasteland, he at least figured he'd make as firm of a statement as possible._

_He set the flowers down on the eroded main road that led to the desolate city. Already the wind began to pick away at the petals, drifting them away into oblivion. _

_Ozzie wouldn't have preferred anything less._

_"Goodbye...everyone..." _

* * *

And just like a film strip, the memory frayed away into black, Ozzie's staccato farewell echoing into silence. The Bloodlink had served its purpose.

Tails, unprepared for the sudden return to reality, gasped. He...He had had no idea. He did, however, realize how wrong he'd been in accusing Ozzie. He resisted the misty sheen that dared to leave his eyes and instead turned his sight to the mole, whose large, half-lidded, brown eyes stared back with an attentive blankness.

"Ozzie...I'm—OW! Hey!"

The addressed merely smirked. He had just delivered to Tails a considerable flick to the forehead to cut off the fox's apology. "Softie," Ozzie teased in his raspy but deep voice.

Though his glare did not subside, Tails, in spite of his smarting forehead, matched the mole's smirk with his own. "You're a big jerk, Ozzie. You could have just told me, you know."

That playful jab earned the little fox a ham-sized noogie, courtesy of a genuinely smiling Ozzie.

Tails wouldn't have preferred anything else.

* * *

**The ending is weak. I know. And I'm sorry. :(**


	2. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

**This was originally the first chapter of my scrapped Ozzie/Amy story "A Rock and a Hard Place." I had no intention of finishing it and hardly anyone read it, so I decided to recycle some chapters. As such, this chapter details how the regular game version of Ozzie met Sonic and the gang, so no none of the Archie characters are in here, although they, along with other OCs besides Ozzie and even other versions of Ozzie himself, will be making appearances in later chapters. **

**Oh, and remember the music cues I mentioned last chapter? Get ready for those. I'd recommend the extended versions, by the way.**

**I only own Ozzie, his uncle, and anything and anyone else who doesn't belong to SEGA.**

* * *

"Here."

Two earth brown eyes only asked one simple question:_ 'Here?'_

"Yes...this is where you will find them," the larger of the dark figures replied. His voice, deep and baritone, did not fail to catch the smaller one's attention. "I have calculated and monitored their movements (and for the fourth time, my nephew, that's _not_ stalking), and my results have revealed that most of their activity will be concentrated in that general area over there."

The larger figure, cloaked in a black robe that concealed his face, produced a meaty finger that pointed to some distant place in front of him and the addressee.

Sure enough, blinking lights could be seen in the far off distance, and their source seemed to be coming in for a landing.

"See? They have already arrived."

Okay, that answer fulfilled one question...only now it only left even more in its wake.

And the young being beside the larger figure—the nephew—once again turned his perspective back to his uncle. Those same beady eyes still held uncertainty—and perhaps apprehension as well.

"But...why?" the nephew asked, his raspy yet soft-spoken voice ironically audible in the midnight silence.

The larger figure merely turned his cloaked head, an action that caused a slight rustling sound, and gave one cryptic but meaningful answer, his voice careworn but undeniably full of conviction.

"I believe you've been lied to for long enough. There is only _one_ mission you need to know."

Leaning down closer to converse with the young one face to face, the uncle first gave him a piercing gaze, almost as if discerning if the youth before him can be deemed worthy of a high truth.

Little Nephew did not flinch in the slightest.

In a hushed whisper, full of urgency, came these words: "Run...run to freedom."

* * *

**("****Sunlit Earth****" from Shadow of the Colossus)**

"Amy...what _is_ this place?"

Said inquiry had been asked by a tiny, young, snow white-muzzled, pastel-colored rabbit girl with large, floppy ears, and large, doe-like, brown eyes, all of which had light brown markings around them. She wore a sun-kissed orange dress, a tied baby-blue ribbon around her neck, white gloves, and considerably sized orange/yellow shoes that exposed her white socks.

Not surprisingly, the sound of her voice fell upon the ears of her two comrades like the coo of a baby dove.

Her question didn't remain unanswered for long.

Two taller figures walked right up to the rabbit girl.

The first one was a pink-furred hedgehog with jade green eyes, a peach muzzle, and smoothed-back hair held in place by a red hairband. For clothing, she wore a red dress/skirt with a white stripe lining the edge of the skirt, a pair of boots with a similar design—only with the white stripe being vertical and straight down the middle—and white gloves similar to what her child friend wore.

Beside the pink female was a snow-tipped twin-tailed, white bellied, yellowish orange fox that, like his two friends, had on white gloves as well. However, his only article of clothing consisted of red and white shoes—white at the toes and red in the back. His irises sparkled like azure gems, full of innocence compensated for by eagerness.

Pink One held up a finger in the air as if she was a history teacher sharing a vital piece of the distant past with an insatiably curious student.

"Knuckles said this place used to be a giant city—and a pretty powerful one, too," she explained, her enigmatic tone holding the young one in awe.

"...at least until something totaled it..."

The lemon lupine nodded in agreement before gazing at the ruins in admiration. "Not just any city, Amy...This was once Talpidea. The moles that used to live here were said to be amazing engineers, some of them even the best in the world! Their inventions were said to be totally ahead of their time!"

Amy, "From what I heard, they also had a thing for history, especially any history concerning rocks. Not exactly the most exciting thing to study, huh, Cream?"

The tiny rabbit, now in absolute awe rather than boredom, took in a sweeping observation of the land around her and her friends. Indeed, ruins of dilapidated skyscraper-like buildings and metallic apartments dotted and clustered the vast landscape as testimony to what once was a proud and mighty civilization.

Now there only lay bones and ghosts of a time long since passed, a glory long since gone. Nighttime's darkness only added to the lonely, solemn gloom of the area.

"Oh wait!" Cream suddenly cried out. Her eyes held light brimming with urgency and concern.

Amy turned to her lapine friend, perplexed as to what she could be worried about. "What's wrong?"

"Has anyone seen Cheese?"

Come to think about it, Cream was right. No one had seen the blue/yellow chao ever since the team had landed. Or Sonic for that matter…

But the Blue Blur was always going off by himself, so no one felt _too_ worried about _his_ absence—aside from Amy, of course (as usual). Besides, the gang had a little chao that was wandering around a desolate place utterly and completely unfamiliar to him. There was no telling what trouble he'd get into out here.

Amy crossed her arms as she put a hand to her chin in thought. "He's gotta be around here somewhere. I doubt he would've gotten far." She turned to address Tails. "Say Tails, Cream and I are going to try and find Cheese."

Uncertainty danced across the young fox's face, his eyebrows knitted worriedly and his tone of voice reflecting likewise. "Are you sure, Amy?"

The pink female waved a finger dismissively. "Don't worry your scruffy little head, Tails. We'll be fine! You just worry about getting this place scanned for that tablet!"

The twin-tailed engineer could only sigh and smile good-naturedly at his carnation companion's bravado. "Well, okay Amy. Besides, it _would _be faster if we multi-tasked a bit. But just to be on the safe side…"

Tails pulled out a small, black walkie-talkie from a compartment in his aero-plane then tossed it to Amy, who caught it in mid-air. "Roger! See ya later, Tails! Come on, Cream!" Then the rosy rascal dashed off. Cream followed suit but not before offering a goodbye of her own.

"Goodbye for now, Tails! We'll be back soon with Cheese!"

The plucky engineer offered his teammate a thumbs-up and a perky smile. "Sure! Good luck!"

The pastel-colored lapine nodded in response before racing off to join her friend in the search.

* * *

"Cheese? "Cheese, where are you?"

"Cheese, come out already! We don't have all night for this!"

So far, no luck—that pesky little chao was still nowhere in sight, even with Amy and Cream's currently fruitless search having lasted for over a half hour now.

Needless to say, Amy's patience was wearing thin—_very _thin. _'Seriously, this was cute for the first few minutes, but now that Cheese is__** really**__ pushing it!'_

They were here on a mission, not for a game of Hide-and-Seek!

Cream, on the other hand, had different thoughts about her lost chao as she continued glancing anxiously at the dark, gloomy ruins. _'Oh Cheese, I hope you're alright.'_

How would one be able to actually know whether if this old city really _was _abandoned? What if someone—or some_thing_—was hiding in wait right now, just waiting for the girls? What if that thing had Cheese?

The peach-furred rabbit shook her head vehemently, willing herself to dismiss such negative and frightening assumptions. Worrying wouldn't bring the two girls any closer to finding Cheese. They _were _going to find him, no matter what!

_'Yes, I just have to be strong for Cheese. Just like Amy!' _With this thought in mind, Cream could feel an optimistic smile spark on her face as her preoccupation diminished to nothing. She even went so far as to imitate her carnation friend's confident stride as they continued down the lonely, moonlit, worn-out stone road.

Neither Amy nor Cream saw the two sets of eyes that hid in the shadows in different locations, following their every movement…one Mobian and curious…the other not so Mobian…and anything but friendly…

* * *

Amy paused in the massive central plaza of the ruins, the nostalgic atmosphere pushing her frustration with the search to the back of her mind for now. All around the hedgehog, remnants of skyscrapers, marked all over by strange, unfamiliar markings and glass, towered around her and Cream, who stood back a little to admire the area with the same fascination from prior. Though these ghosts of their former selves appeared haunting from a distance, up close they were actually almost beautiful in a way—a sad, wistful sort of way but still…

Glancing down at the cobblestone ground, the pink Mobian couldn't help noticing how the circular pattern of the plaza also held the same strange markings. Like a bull's-eye, the plaza's design radiated like frozen ripples in water, old, crumbling, obsidian paved walkways leading out from the edge of the plaza to other parts of the city. In between those paths, the husks of dead trees interrupted the wide expanses of weed-infested brownish-red dirt, no leaves to protect or beautify the otherwise bleak gray and black scene.

Clasping her hands together, Amy let her eyes shimmer like verdant emeralds, their brilliance matched only by the light of her dreamy smile. "For ruins, this place is almost kind of beautiful," she closed her eyes then swooned and shivered passionately, "maybe even romantic."

Deciding not to sweatdrop at her friend's idea of romance, Cream instead spoke up in frank curiosity "Hey, Amy...?"

**(Music fades out)**

Hearing the young rabbit's voice broke Amy from her reverie, thus assuring the rabbit girl that she had the full attention of the lady hedgehog. "Yeah, Cream?"

"Mommy told me the moles always liked to be left alone. And Mr. Vector once told me they disappeared one day. Is that true?"

Gasping a bit at the unexpected question, Amy crossed her arms then shifted her vision from Cream to the lonely moon hanging above. She hummed a bit in thought before answering. "Well...to be honest, I can't say I can answer that question, Cream."

The young rabbit cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Why not?"

Amy hummed a bit more before turning back to Cream to respond, her tone slow and solemn. "Well, for one thing, your Mom's right. Moles were never the social types to begin with. Plus..."

She returned her view to the moon. "No one has ever seen them...not in the last 300 years at least. Some even say they may not exist anymore."

"300 years!?" Cream blurted out in total shock.

"Yep!"

"Oh, then shouldn't we be careful? Tails said the moles were really good at machines. What if some of those machines are still in these ruins...?" Indeed, poor Cream even shot her anxious russet eyes to the shadows, half-expecting something metallic and horrible to leap out at her and Amy.

The pink hedgehog, however, quickly dispelled the girl's fears with a wave of her hand and a confident grin. "Oh Cream, don't be such a worrywart! Remember, this city's been abandoned for 3 centuries. All the machinery those moles built have gotta be rust by now."

When the pink Mobian looked back to Cream, however, the little lapine's face was pale and wide-eyed in terror! With a trembling finger, Cream squeaked out, "All except for that one..."

Baffled by the terror in her friends' eyes, Amy slowly turned her head to see the cause.

She wished she hadn't.

Before the trio was a beast like none other they'd ever seen. Even from a distance, one could tell the strange figure was a machine—and a powerful one as well. Vaguely resembling a badger, the massive unit easily towered over some of the buildings in the area, its height so staggering that Amy and Cream had to crane their necks in order to look it in its glowing red eyes. Three gleaming white stripes ran down the machine's midnight blue body, the center one being the largest and eventually ending on a flattened, pudgy tail. The underside and the snout shone bright silver, the shine of which caused the two girls to cover their eyes for a few moments. Luminous teeth shined in the dim moonlight, the sterling nose sniffing in the air that held the scents of the "intruders." What alarmed both girls the most, though, were the wickedly sharp, bone white claws that extruded from the machine's paws and feet.

Amy, to say the least, felt anything but safe around this behemoth, and she was having a hard time trying not to admit that fact. Altogether, this terror seemed like a force to be reckoned with!

Then slowly, ever so slowly, the machine threw its head back…to release an earth-shaking roar and immediately charge right for Amy and Cream!

**("Gatekeeper of the Castle Ruins" from Shadow of the Colossus)**

Flight-and-flight instincts worked their magic instantaneously as the hedgehog and the rabbit fled from the mechanized monstrosity in sheer terror!

"Amy!" At hearing her name called out in such a frightened tone, Amy did not hesitate to grab her poor friend's hand, and shot a brave, serious expression to address the child.

"Cream, you need to fly, and, whatever you do, don't look back!"

The timid lapine, though she dared not go against her friend's warning, still cringed at the tremors poured into the ground by the pursuing juggernaut's footsteps. …_ 'She's right. I can't let fear stop me. I have to be brave—for Cheese.'_

Cheese—so alone, so confused, so scared...

That thought gave Cream a surge of determination that flooded her body and mind. Setting her small face to a firm frown, the little lapine nodded back and gripped tighter onto Amy's hand as she prepared for take—

WHOOSH! **BOOM!**

An unforeseen explosion made impact with an edifice near the girls, sending both of them flying by at least 50 feet. Amy made certain to embrace Cream in mid-air so the landing wouldn't injure the delicate child considerably…and not a moment too soon because the reunion with the ground did _not_ go very smoothly. Although Cream remained unscathed, her carnation companion hissed in pain from a scratch on her left leg; the blood soaked her fur crimson and dripped down to her leg, staining the white of her boot.

Cream gasped at the sight of the injury the moment she shot back up and loomed over her friend in deep panic. "Oh no, Amy!" _'We have to get out of here now!'_

"I'll be fine! Don't worry!" Amy knew those words were a lie—the agony in her leg that ignited from her attempt to stand up said everything…just like the rumbling of the ground.

Stiffening in fear of the worse, both girls slowly and anxiously turned their eyes in the direction their behemoth pursuer, almost expecting it to be preparing for the final kill.

The sight before them left speechless.

Instead of continuing its charge towards the girls, the robot was bellowing irritably and swiping its paws in vain at something else. Whatever that something—or some_one_— was, it was drawing the metallic pursuer's attention, but neither of the girls could tell who their savior was, at least not from far away and in the dark. Eventually, the machine had its back to the remains of a dilapidated skyscraper, unable to contend with this new intervening force that had succeeded in landing numerous damaging blows.

And then, then came a moment that snatched away the breaths of both Amy and Cream, but especially Amy. A small form leapt onto the beast's forehead then expertly dodged a paw by leaping high into the air. Taking advantage of the momentum, the "hero" curled into a ball, swerved into an arc in the air, and shot straight through the machine, right between the beast's neon blood eyes.

Like an actual animal of flesh shot by a bullet, the machine became dead silent and still, its eyes dimming to a lifeless black as its arms went limp. Then like a chopped down tree, the monster fell backwards into the building behind it, utterly reducing the ruin to nothing more than rubble.

**(Music cuts off)**

Cream looked at the defeated mecha in amazement. _'Wow, whoever saved us beat that thing so quickly!'_

The slowly eye-widening Amy, however, did not gaze in awe, but rather familiarity..._'Wait a sec...I know that last move anywhere!' _

As far as the pink hedgehog knew, there was only one guy in this entire city who could pull off Homing Spin like that! And that someone was...

She suddenly threw her arms open as if receiving divine message and dashed out, her injury not hindering her in the slightest, while calling out, "Oh my precious, lovable, and caring Sonic, I knew you'd come to the rescue!"

This time, Cream really _did_ sweatdrop at her friend's actions. "Um Amy, I don't think that's—"

"SONIC!"

* * *

**Me: Amy! That is not—Oh never mind. She'll find out soon enough in the next chapter.**


	3. All The Right Friends

**I only own Ozzie, his uncle, and anything and anyone else who doesn't belong to SEGA.**

* * *

Little Nephew, now stuck with fur a tad smoky from the finishing move but still standing and alive, leaned down with his hands on his knees to obtain a closer gander at the destroyed mecha. He had only struck the machine straight through its power core—i.e. its cranial cavity. As a result, the rest of the machine remained intact for the most part, the beautiful sheen noticeable in the moonlight.

The young mole, however, so raptured by the sight of his fell opponent, had no idea of the chance encounter mistakenly running his way.

_'Man, I wish I wouldn't have had to trash this thing,' _he sighed wistfully, brown irises washing over the badger robot's still form. '_Its structure and design are amazing!' _

Just as soon as that thought arrived, however, Nephew dismissed it with a shrug of his bony shoulders. Oh well, _someone_ had to stop this metalhead from stomping on those two girls the young mole had seen walking around earlier; they should be thanking all their lucky stars that he had been in the area. Otherwise—

_'Oh man!'_ the mole suddenly jolted erect, slapping a fleshy hand to his forehead, shaking his head, and groaning in annoyed epiphany. _'You dumbass—you've gotta check to see if those two are okay!'_

Especially the female in red—that landing _had _to have left something worse than a simple bruise on her. Once again, Nephew berated himself, this time ashamed that he hadn't been quick enough to protect the damsels in distress. He shook his head immediately afterward.

_'No, I did my best and at least stopped that thing from harming them any further.'_ No use in dwelling over what had already happened—that had been Nephew's first lesson under his uncle's tutelage.

"SONIC!" a perky, female voice suddenly called out, breaking the burrower out of his deep reverie. Taken much aback by the tone that _definitely _did not sound like it belonged to someone in pain, Nephew shifted his body to meet the source of the new voice face-to-face…

_'What the...' _

"OOF!"

Before anyone had a chance to blink or give a fine "Howdy Do", Amy Rose, eyes closed tight, caught her "hero" in a fierce tackle, sending both of them to the ground. In other words, the poor mole became the carnation fan-girl's personal landing pad.

"Oh, Sonic, I knew you'd save me!"

The poor, winded burrower's cheeks went more cherry red than a tomato! His uncle had taught him numerous lessons… dealing with girls had not been one of them. And right now, not only was there a girl touching him so intimately, but said girl appeared about ready to kiss him! All the willpower in the world proved barely enough for the burrower to not melt right then and there in the young woman's lean arms.

_'Well, uh…at least I know Red is alright.'_ Now if only Red would let up on the squeezing…!

"Um…Miss...?" Nephew meekly squeaked out. His voice, to his relief, knocked Amy out of her fantasy and back into reality.

_'Wait a sec...,'_ Amy thought as she did a double-take,_ 'That voice doesn't sound like my Sonic's.' _

The voice had too much rumbling baritone compared to Sonic's lighter voice. And since when did the Azure Wind feel so...stocky?

Releasing her hold on the earthbound Mobian, Amy stood up then backed away a few feet to gain a fuller view of the mysterious stranger. His coal-black fur blended almost seamlessly into the dark; a long, narrowly pointed peach muzzle, pink nose at the end, revealed his puzzled frown; three tiny cowlicks swayed from an upcoming breeze as the mole's white-gloved ham hands gripped into fists; his tree-trunk legs ended in wickedly spike-soled, bright red shoes with a vertical yellow stripe running down the middle of each.

Confusion melted into pure shock then evaporated into outrage and suspicion as the pink Mobian aimed a finger at the imposter.

"You're not Sonic!"

Picking himself up, the mole simply blinked his brown eyes at the female's behavior then shook his thick head, not knowing who this "Sonic" person was at all...in spite of this strange, nagging feeling deep down that he should.

He did know _one_ thing, though: whoever this young woman was, she was _not_ very happy at the moment—either that or suffering major mood-swings. _'Talk about a short fuse...Sheesh.'_

"Alright, buddy, talk! Who are you?"

An anxious Cream dashed up to the older teens immediately after hearing the vicious tone of her friend's voice. "Amy, please, he just saved our lives! Shouldn't we be thanking him instead?"

The young, baffled mole only gave the shorter, adorable rabbit a glance—_'What's a little thing like her doing in a place like this anyway?'_; then he merely pointed a finger to himself.

_'Is he trying to play dumb or something?'_ Amy huffed indignantly. "Who else do you think I'm talking to? Of course I mean you!"

Deciding not to fight fire with fire (for now), the mole huffed through his nose with dignity before responding. "Ozzie Burroughs."

No one spoke for a few moments, the simplicity of Nephew's response catching both girls completely off guard.

"What?" Amy inquired blankly, having lost her defensive edge to mild disbelief.

"Ozzie Burroughs," repeated Ozzie, the rich deepness of his voice, evident in spite of his asthma, laced with slight quickness as well as by a volume neither too loud nor too soft. "My name."

Though no longer steamed, Amy hummed suspiciously, still believing that his timely rescue seemed a tad too convenient. _'I wouldn't put it past him to be one of Eggman's robo flunkies in disguise._'

Granted, perhaps the rose was being a little too paranoid...but then again, better to be safe than sorry, right?

"Alright, then explain to me what you're doing in some ruins in the middle of night..._Ozzie_, if that_ is_ your real name."

Unbeknownst to the lady hedgehog, Cream winced once again at the distrustful quality of voice. _'Oh dear, I hope she doesn't make Mr. Burroughs upset!'_

After all, this mole had to be a force to be reckoned with if he could silence monsters like that badger machine so effortlessly. Actually, Cream, much to her fear, _did_ observe a brief, sudden flash of anger in the mole's eyes.

Amy, too, noticed said flash; in fact, it made her feel defensive enough to consider summoning her Piko Piko Hammer.

Her fears proved unnecessary and unwarranted.

Just as quickly as the burrower's anger came, it left...only to be replaced by two glossy eyes that he slowly directed away from Amy and Cream and towards the distant, silver moon.

"Huh?" Amy tilted her head in genuine perplexity. He appeared to be holding something back.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Burroughs?" Cream's question lay laden by shimmering russet eyes and a tiny frown. Despite being a stranger, Ozzie somehow succeeded in tugging at her heartstrings with that skyward, heartbroken gaze.

_'What __**is **__wrong with him?_' Miss Rose, too, could not deny the sympathy rising within her thanks to the mole's sorrowful expression. Did he and this place have some sort of history?

"Home."

Amy, unsure if she'd heard right, "What did you say?"

At last, Ozzie tore his gaze from the moon and reluctantly set it upon Amy, the look in his eyes heavy and solemn. "My home."

"You mean...you live here?" Amy had to take a step back. Cream had to gasp. Why would this guy—or anyone for that matter—wish to make such lonely ruins his home?

Ozzie shook his head slowly, sorrow creeping into his eyes.

Then the conclusion finally struck the pink hedgehog and the beige rabbit—struck them both like a lightning bolt!

This place wasn't his home...not anymore at least. But wait a second...How could he have lived here if the Talpidean moles had been missing for about 300 years? Unless this guy was over 300 years old or had just finished cryogenic sleep—

_'Oh, what difference does it make?'_ Amy angrily retorted in her mind. _'Either way, this guy lost his home. How can you not feel sad after losing something as precious as that? Besides, we'll figure out what the heck's going on later.'_

"So...why **are** you here, then?" asked the sympathetic hedgehog, her distrust dissipating at the heartbreaking realization. An apology would have to be in order later on.

Ozzie looked off into a direction in front of him as if straining to seek something, his sadness gone like dust in the wind.

"Searching..." He turned his head to the girls. "You...?"

Cream perked up at the word "searching". "Oh, well, Mr. Burroughs, you see, we're—" ...only to be cut by her carnation friend's hand in mid-sentence.

"Sorry, but that's topic secret." Miss Rose felt a tad more secure around Ozzie than before but she still couldn't risk Eggman's bots, if they were in the vicinity, eavesdropping.

Ozzie merely shrugged; he honestly couldn't care less whether these girls trusted him." _'Fair enough...'_

"What about you? What are_ you_ searching for?"

The young mole raised an eyebrow questioningly before he replied in the same quick speed and terse volume from before. "Tablet...Talpidean. Seen it?"

Amy and Cream couldn't believe their ears! _'Wait a second, he knows about the tablet?' _the former gawked internally. '_Then in which case...'_

Miss Rose set her hands akimbo. "That depends. What do you plan to do with it?" she asked curiously.

"Keep it safe," the mole's device uttered quickly and quietly, "Eggman." The growl in his voice the moment he said that name was all the proof Amy needed to trust him...for now.

"Well then, since it sounds like you're so set on stopping Egg-in-the-Face, then how about joining us?" True to form, Amy Rose gave her and Cream's newest ally one of her own patented sugar sweet smiles. "We've got a score to settle with him ourselves, too."

This time, Ozzie shot both eyebrows up! He hadn't been expecting such an offer. "Really?"

"She's right, Mr. Burroughs!" Cream piped up eagerly. "The Doctor is a very mean man and that's why Mr. Sonic always has to stop him."

"Of course, even my darling Sonic needs help sometimes," Amy continued, with clasped hands and a dreamy smile, "That's why he has me, along with everyone else, as backup!"

Cream nodded. "We'd be honored if you _did_ join, Mr. Burroughs."

Much to the child's confusion, however, Ozzie pulled a look of mild irritation and waved a hand in a halting fashion. "_Ozzie_...Please, no...," the mole paused to sigh and shudder, "'Mr. Burroughs'." _'It makes me feel like a thousand-year old fart.'_

"Oh, okay. Sorry, Ozzie..."

Abruptly, the Talpidean mole perked his eyebrows up and eye-rolled in realization. "Duh."

Amy issued out a "huh" before asking, "'Duh' what?"

Ozzie's answer somewhat startled the girls: a sharp whistle, one sent in another direction, in fact. Almost immediately—and much to Amy and Cream's pleasant surprise and relief—a sky blue/yellow chao popped his head from behind a large, boulder-like piece of rubble from behind the mole.

"Cheese!" The ecstatic rabbit bounded her way to the chao, whom of which shot through the air to her in kind. In seconds, Cheese had returned to being in his owner's arms—right where he belonged.

"Hiding..." Ozzie interjected, his hands joined behind his head. He looked rather content about his good deed.

Remembering whose voice she had just heard, Cream looked back at Ozzie. "Huh...? You mean Cheese?"

The mole nodded then pointed to the destroyed machine. "From that..."

Allowing the whole story to finally click took little time for Cream and Amy.

"Thank you so much, Ozzie!" the rabbit girl rang out happily. "I was so very scared for Cheese!"

Amy, however, relieved as she felt, wasn't going to let the naughty chao off the hook so easily. "Well, Cheese, what do you have to say for yourself?"

To the surprise of all three Mobians, the chao, rather than looking ashamed, suddenly leapt out of Cream's arms and flew back to his hiding spot instead.

"Cheese, wait!" Cream called out. What could have possessed the little guy to go back there?

The answer to that question lay in the chao's stubby hands as he flew back into view—a small, perfectly round piece of stone laden with square letters of a foreign language.

"That must be the tablet!" the beige rabbit exclaimed.

_'Cheese must have been looking for it by himself!' _Amy guessed, awestruck at her and Cream's mission being successful all because of Cheese's boldness.

Ozzie had his back to a heavily eroded wall, arm crossed, watching the whole scene with a bored expression. Deep down, though, he felt a deep sense of relief and amazement at the little chao's finding.

As for Amy, the carnation Mobian couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu; this guy kind of reminded her of Knuckles—except without all the bluster and fume, of course.

Her thoughts broke off when a familiar voice suddenly rang through her ears—the voice of a certain blue hedgehog.

"Ozzie?"

* * *

**You folks didn't think I wouldn't include Sonic now, did ya? ;)**


	4. Everybody Hurts

**The continuation to "All The Right Friends"... I ****_still _****only own Ozzie, his uncle, and anything and anyone else who doesn't belong to SEGA.**

* * *

"SONIIIIIIIIC!"

To the immediate shock and horror of Cream and Cheese and the interested amusement of Ozzie, Amy Rose materialized her Piko Piko Hammer with an appropriately steamy hiss and aimed a fiery glare upon the currently terrified Azure Wind. Cream and Cheese smartly backed up from the upcoming altercation.

"Whoa, Amy, take it easy!" the Azure Wind pleaded shakily, hands raised in meager self-defense. Just what he needed for a welcoming—the wrath of a displeased woman...

"Easy? EASY?! YOU GO AROUND GALLAVANTING AROUND SOME RUINS WHILE CREAM AND I NEARLY GET KILLED, AND YOU WANT ME TO TAKE IT EASY?!"

Okay, Cream did _not _like the ugly direction this confrontation was headed; she dashed up to her enraged friend's side in an effort to calm her down.

"Miss Amy, please! You know Mr. Sonic's not that type of person! I'm sure he would have saved us if he'd been able to. Something had to have held him up, right, Mr. Sonic?" She glanced to the older mammal with hopeful eyes.

Sonic caught Cream's eyes and managed to relax somewhat in spite of Amy's hammer still being brandished at him. "Well, now that ya mention it, Cream—Oh, Amy, you're hurt!" The blue hedgehog's eyes shot wide open when they caught out the injury on Amy's leg.

Seeing the Blue Blur's concerned look quelled the anger in Amy right away—as well as did a sudden pleasant warmth. Looking down at the clotting wound on her left leg—and a closed-eyed Ozzie sitting on his knees by said leg and his pudgy hands hovering over said wound—brought in a sudden wave of self-conscious.

Slapping the burrower's hands away with a feminine gasp of "Eep," Amy dashed up to Sonic's side and grabbed his right arm, much to the embarrassment of the blushing azure male. Poor Sonic froze up like a cartoon falling into wintertime water while Amy flared up like hellfire. "Hey! Just what do you think you're doing?"

Pupils wide in shock at first but then narrowing them in to slight slits, Ozzie tapped a thick finger to his chin; the action only held mock, however. "Hmm...," the mole responded in a snide tone before craning his neck at the lady hedgehog in a smart-aleck manner. "Healing, maybe?"

Amy, huffing indignantly in response, bristled greatly at his tone of voice at first but then softened her features a smidge so that her expression held curiosity tinged with worry,. So he could fight _and _treat injuries then? "So you're a doctor then, right?"

_'A doctor...? Not exactly how I'd put it but...'_ With a look of modesty, Ozzie shrugged his shoulders with a casual "Guess so."

"Hey Amy."

The rose hedgehog turned her head to her cerulean counterpart with a "huh." "Yeah Sonic?

"Trust him on this. You need that wound treated ASAP and who knows whether we'll run into something else on the way back to the T-Plane, even if I _do _use my super speed." Sonic suddenly smiled an assuring grin, patting Amy on the shoulder. "Besides, you can always count on Talpidean magic to get the job done and then some!"

At those words, the rose Mobian had to do a double take. _'I really don't see how that argument makes sense. He should have no problem getting me back to the T-Plane. And wait a sec, how does Sonic know that about Talpidean magic anyway? I never even thought they __**could **__do-'_

All thoughts in Amy's head came to an abrupt halt as she felt the same warm energy from before pass down from the hands of Ozzie, who the female had noticed had made his way back to her injured limb without her ever noticing, into her leg wound, the skin healing quickly and painlessly. But the effects didn't stop there. The blood on Amy's leg and boot faded from view as well, much to the stupefied shock of the "patient" and to the awe of Cream and Cheese. For a final touch, Ozzie whispered a few more words before casting a brief shower of light blue sparks over both the leg and its corresponding boot.

"Decontaminate..." Ozzie explained, needing one breath to say the word but punctuating it with a smug wink.

Sonic gestured a hand to the mole. There had been no need for Amy to worry after all. "See, Ames, what did I tell ya?"

For a few moments, nothing happened. Amy alternatively switched her line of sight from her wound to Ozzie, who was looking at her, expectant of appraisal, but gradually appearing more impatient the longer she took to answer.

Eventually, the pink hedgehog parted her lips, closing her eyes and shrugging her shoulders begrudgingly at the same time. "Hmm, I guess he did a good job."

Sonic, Cream, and Cheese sweatdropped in response, a bit stunned by her uncharacteristic lack of genuine appreciation, while a wide-eyed Ozzie let his arms and hands go limp and lurched forward with an agape mouth at the girl's indifference.

_'Is she freaking serious?' _burned through the mole's head like a wildfire through a forest.

How dare this woman belittle his efforts to help her! He didn't _have _to heal her wound; he only hadout of guilt anyway. In fact, he would have gladly let that injury get infected instead if he had known she'd be so ungrateful—that would've taught her. Besides, this Sonic guy should've been able to get her medical attention easily anyway with his super spee—

_'Wait...super speed...?'_ Those two "s" words wiped away all entertaining thoughts of outrage and payback from the mole's mind. He had known someone with super speed a long time ago...a long, long time ago actually—someone cocky but righteous-minded, someone laid back but caring and friendly...someone...blue...

All of sudden, like a beacon bursting through a dense fog, a particular memory broke through the vagueness of Ozzie's mind.

* * *

**("Treasured Memories" from Kingdom Hearts)**

_A tiny figure—a young, diminutive mole—sat hunched over on a rock in the middle of a dense forest, whimpering incoherently as tears fell from his eyelids and onto the cool, green grass under his shoeless, clawed feet. His pitch black fur, to his faint hope, helped blend him into the deep shadows of the towering trees, especially thanks to the dimness of evening approaching fast. At least this way no one would have to look at the 'monster'—or so he'd been branded as (both by others and, most recently, himself). _

**_'I...I didn't mean to hurt her. I don't even know _****_how _****_I hurt her! Why won't anyone listen?'_**

_He had tried. His parents had tried. Even his uncle had tried._

_No one cared to listen to any of them at all. All the other children only wanted were recompensing revenge. All the adults wanted were 'justice' and 'discipline'—in other words, revenge as well. For those reasons, the poor child had been ejected violently from the school building by one of the officials._

_He could still hear the laughing and jabs that had been thrown at him during his humiliating removal from the classroom a few hours ago. Tears flushed from the boy's eyes more rapidly than before._

_ Did they honestly think hurting him back would heal the girl he had mistakenly injured? Or were they even thinking of the girl __**at all**__ anymore? Was so much rage and hate sealed up within their hearts at his actions that they would willingly resort to the easiest way available to them? If so, then they only proved themselves to be just as horrible as __**he **__supposedly was! _

_Yet no punishment had come to them. Why?_

**_'You know very well why.'_**

_At the dark, grumbling, bodiless voice, a startled gasp escaped the earthbound youth as he jerked his head up...before lowering it back down with a despaired groan. __**'Not again...Please, not again...'**_

_"Hey, kid...you okay?"_

_The earth-child jolted his head up in sudden fear, finding himself face to face with the curious-looking countenance of a young, blue hedgehog. Standing on his feet, which were clad in pointy, red shoes with white stripes, the spike-haired stranger easily towered over the burrower, even though he looked to be right around his age if not older._

_"I said are you okay?" he repeated, his squeaky voice a smidge more demanding this time but still tinged with concern._

_A few seconds had to pass before the smaller child could fathom the reality before him: someone of another species talking to him—and a child, no less! The mole numbly shook his head at the blue mammal, still unsure what to make of this unfamiliar face, much less its owner's concern. _

_Some tales back home detailed vicious and uncaring savages who dwelled beyond the walls of Talpidean society. Both the parents and the uncle of the mole child, along with some of the family's neighbors, criticized such tales, labeling them as mere hogwash tainted by narrow-minded prejudice and a corrupt bureaucracy._

_Though the mole child couldn't exactly understand all the big, fancy words used by his family members, he gathered enough over the years to comprehend the basic gist that one can't judge somebody without at least a proper meet first. _

_On the reverse, however, the boy also preferred to be practical. After all, one can never be __**too**__ sure of someone else's intentions or motives._

_"Hmm, I guess you can't talk, can ya?" the blue hedgehog joked, chuckling not unkindly, but the mole still took some offense all the same._

_"I talk!" the mole retorted in a flustered fashion as he shot up from his rock and onto his hind legs. Standing up now, the mole turned out to be only a __**head**__ shorter than the blue Mobian. He lightly gasped shortly afterward and his creaky voice lowered a bit on account of his shyness's immediate return. "I just don't do it a lot."_

_The hedgehog tilted his head with a confused-sounding "huh." "Then how come you didn't answer me the first time?" he piped up in mild curiosity. He'd never met someone so unwilling to speak._

_Mole turned his head to the side; his coffee-colored eyes shimmered at unsavory memories. _

_"I'm sorry. People got mad at me today," he began slowly and quietly at first. "Mad at me for something I don't even remember doing...No wanted to listen to me or even look at me. All they did was be nasty to me. I tried asking everyone over and over what I did wrong, and—and..." With each progressive word, Mole's voice became thicker and more strangled in sound. Tension was building up in his throat and Hedgehog had a feeling that the little guy would start crying any second now._

**_'...Not that I'd blame him...'_**_ "What happened?" the hedgehog slowly asked in trepidation, not liking the grim direction taken by this telling of recent events._

_"They beat on me. They kicked me, they pushed me...one of them even tried to punch me." A gasp reached the mole's ears; the hedgehog hadn't expected the story to turn out so brutal._

_"And...and...the w-worst part...is...I-I'm the one who got in t-trouble! The t...t...teacher grabbed me by the arm, dragged me down the hall...'M-m-monsters don't belong here.' That's all I remember him saying before he (hiccup) threw me out into the mud."_

_And like a wounded dove, the heart-trodden earth child, his throat clogged with gasps for air, curled into a ball in front of the rock and cradled himself, his tears now endless rivulets running down his cheeks and his chin. He could barely see anything aside from colored blurs and blobs but he heard the defeat-laden, choking sobs bursting from his throat quite clearly._

_Enough was enough! He no longer wished to endure all the hate; he no longer wished to suffer all the accusations. __**'I just wanna disappear...disappear to someplace where nobody can scream at me for being bad!'**__ But...could such a place even exist? _

_"Hey kid..."_

_Hedgehog..._

**_'He hasn't left yet?'_**_ Mole halted his crying and looked up to the smiling cerulean mammal; he thought for sure the disgusting tears would have driven the taller boy away; that's what everyone else outside of his kin did. Yet here stood Hedgehog, still present and not at all shrinking back or scoffing at Mole's display of sorrow. _

_His astonishment only grew further when Hedgehog offered a gloved hand for Mole to grasp. The Talpidean youth stared at the hand in confusion, not quite sure what the gesture entailed. Could this stranger be tricking him?_

_"How'd you like to take a trip with me?" the hand's owner asked with a bright and friendly grin, no trace of falsehood on his face. _

_A meaty hand gingerly and reluctantly gripped onto the hedgehog's slimmer one. Mole sniffled discreetly as Hedgehog, with some evident effort, hoisted him up onto his back piggy-back style, a feat of strength that impressed the earthbound tyke, who certainly hadn't expected someone with such a lean stature to pick up someone of his mass so easily. "(Hiccup) To...to where?"_

_For a response, Hedgehog merely winked in the same teasing way Mole's father would whenever the child would insist on being told what his birthday presents were. "You'll see once we get there! Trust me; you're gonna love it! Name's Sonic by the way! What's yours?"_

_"O-Ozzie," squeaked out Sonic's passenger. Mole—__**Ozzie**__ no longer felt scared. Far from that—he felt downright excited! For what, he had no idea whatever, but he knew anything would be better than spending a Friday evening crying over people who couldn't care less about you. So why care about them?_

_"Hang on, Oz! This'll be a doozy!"_

_Before the mole had the opportunity to ask his new companion the meaning of those words, the hedgehog departed at hyper-speed in a burst of blue light, taking an unprepared and startled Ozzie with him into the orange twilit sunlight._

**(Music fades out)**

* * *

Earth-russet irises reopened to the open world, their owner back in reality and in still shock at the epiphany the long-buried memory had revealed to him.

Ozzie held a hand to his head and tore his line of sight away from everyone else, nearly dizzy at the truth standing right before him. After all these years, here they were—right in front of each other in the last place Ozzie would have ever expected their re-encounter to take place. He raised his eyes to get a look once more at the face that looked so much like that of the child that had saved him from total loneliness all those years ago.

Ignoring the perplexed stares of Amy, Cream, and Cheese, Ozzie took a slow step forward before placing a hand on Sonic's shoulder. The corners of his lips melted into a grin full of hearty disbelief. "Sonic."

With a gentle nod and nostalgic gaze, the Azure Wind matched his long-lost friend smile for smile. "Long time, no see, old buddy."

* * *

**This chapter was more or less drama-practice for me. So did I lay down the drama on too much, or did I get it just right?**


	5. All the Way to Reno

**Tails will sound a little out of character at certain points.**

**Ozzie and all other non-canon elements and characters belong to me. Anything and anyone canon belong to SEGA. Oh yeah, the song I named this chapter by belongs to REM.**

* * *

Dawn cast its warm, auburn rays just upon the horizon as Tails finished adding tweaks to the T-Plane.

Although he finished scanning the area for the tablet an hour ago, a strange tremor (represented by an unexpected second blip on the radar) occurred just before the young kitsune could signal Amy and Cream via walkie-talkie about the relic's whereabouts. Sonic arrived shortly afterward, having just foiled a formerly upcoming wave of Eggman's robots (as usual), and gained a full-scale report from Tails.

Since then, the plucky engineer, encouraged by his older friend to stick here, had been remaining with the plane, hoping to figure out new modifications that could transform the T-Plane into a better aerial fighter.

"Hey Tails!"

The addressed removed his sky blue eyes from the engine just in time to see Sonic, Amy, and Cream walk out from the midst of the city, a smiling Cheese fluttering just above them. He could have sworn he saw a darker figure alongside them, but night hadn't completely lifted its dark veil yet so the twin-tailed tyke couldn't quite tell for sure.

The fox shook his head regardless, knowing Sonic would explain, and so called out in relief, "Hey, guys!"

As his friends came closer, however, Tails automatically noticed how weary Amy and Cream appeared. Both girls possessed a slight lag in their steps as if they were still recovering from a marathon.

"Amy, Cream, what happened?" inquired the fox, a worried frown on his muzzle. "I heard rumbling a while ago, just before Sonic came. Is everything alright?"

Amy flipped her hair back nonchalantly and confidently. "Oh, we're fine, Tails. We had a few...hiccups along the way." The rose hedgehog chose to ignore the knowing smirk on Sonic's face.

Cream, full to the brim with childish joy despite having stayed up through the night, hopped up to her twin-tailed friend with a great, big smile on her face. "We even found Cheese! All safe and sound! And look!" Tails followed the direction of the rabbit's pointing index finger.

"Choo, choo!" chirped the chao in agreement. What could have happened to make Cheese sound so darn happy?

At seeing the fairly-sized stone slab in the hovering chao's hands, the kitsune understood instantaneously and beamed in total amazement. "That must be why Cheese went off earlier!"

"Of course, he ran into a little trouble along the way. Luckily, we had _everything_ under control," smugly assured Miss Rose. A look of confusion, however, passed Cream's face at those dismissive words for she quite clearly recalled Ozzie's rescue of her and Amy, as well as his single-handed victory over the badger mecha.

_'Surely Amy couldn't have forgotten about that.'_ But, being the mild-mannered child her mother raised her to be, Cream remained silent and kept that thought to herself. She would prefer not to ruin everyone's good mood.

Sonic flashed a cocky grin and thumbs-up to Tails. "See? No worries, little bro! Everything's _a_-okay! Better than okay, in fact...," the thumbs-up switched to a sweeping open palm gesture, "you'll never guess who we ran into out there."

The young engineer tilted his head in curiosity at the Azure Wind's strange words. So there _had_ been somebody else in these ruins. "Who do you mean, Sonic?"

Clearing his throat purely for dramatic effect, the Azure Wind ostentatiously wove a hand in the air.

"Tails, allow me to introduce an old friend of mine," and afterward, the blue hero pivoted to reveal to the interested Tails, "Ozzie...Burroughs?"

Who was nowhere in sight...Sonic's ruined introduction ended in a baffled tone as the blue Mobian, Amy, Cream, and Cheese merely gaped at the empty spot in dumbstruck shock. All four slowly looked to and fro in vain. Where could that mole have gone to?

"Huh...?" The perplexed lupine shifted his eyes as well, scanning the immediate area around the T-Plane for any new faces, but to no avail.

"Are you sure somebody else was with you besides the others, Sonic?" Tails' face twisted in befuddlement as the fox thought back on his earlier suspicions. _'Maybe I was just seeing things.'_

Meanwhile, the Azure Wind could only rub the back of his head, utterly lost at figuring out Ozzie's sudden disappearance, even more at what could have possibly possessed him to vanish in the first place. _'I just saw him walk over here with us a minute ago! Unless Oz got super-speed while I was away, there's no way the little guy could've just up and vanished without us noticing.'_

Scratching one cheek with his finger, Sonic shot a glance to Amy and Cream. "Uh, anybody see where Oz just went off to?"

_'I don't know, but, wherever he is, he'd better hope I don't find him __**first**__! It's not nice to skip out on others, especially after you've just __**saved**__ them! He could have at least stuck around a bit longer!' _Amyopened her mouth to answer but instead of lending a suggestion as to where the enigmatic burrower went, what actually popped out of the rose's mouth was, "Hey, what do you think you're doing to the T-Plane?!"

She'd been looking in Tails' direction when she shouted that, so the mistaken kitsune believed she had meant him.

"Amy, what are you talking about?" Tails replied in rightful confusion, offended at her forceful question. This plane _belonged_ to him! Ergo, he had the right tamper with it as he wished! The insulted engineer, trying his hardest not to scowl at his carnation friend, shot his line of sight back to the internal engine he'd been working on.

"All I've been doing is adding some modifica—AHH!"

Tails' abrupt, punctuating yelp and falling into the rusty red dirt were due to the unexpected appearance of an unfamiliar ebony—_thing_ right next to him.

Its face was tucked in between the motors, so right now Tails had no way to discern the species of this mysterious Mobian. To the fox's further bafflement and soon interest, the creature's white-gloved fingers, upon closer examination, could be seen whirring through the wires and other parts of the motor nearly to the point of becoming blurs.

He—the stranger _looked_ male—didn't seem to acknowledge the fallen fox's presence yet—or _lack_ of presence, to be more exact.

"Wh-what...Who _is _that?!" stammered the flustered fox.

"Hmm...?" At last, the mysterious being tore his eyes away from the plane's engine and landed them upon Tails. A soft smile slid up on the burrower's pointed snout as he offered a hand to the younger mammal. "Ozzie. Ozzie Burroughs."

Tails took a moment to register the literal pick-me-up and gingerly gripped the larger fingers with his own. One mighty yank swiftly brought Tails to his feet. It ended up working a tad _too_ effectively because the young lupine stumbled a bit before righting himself onto his feet, greatly taken back at the mole's great strength.

"Um, Tails...Tails, uh, Prower..."

Ozzie tilted his head to the T-Plane, never taking his eyes and smile off of Tails. "Nice ride."

Bashful creature by nature, Tails blushed and returned the smile. He rubbed the back of his head as he replied, "Heh thanks! I built it myself. It still needs a few tweaks, but—," only to halt in mid-speech, his eyes widening to the size of his vehicle's tires, and concentrated his focus more intensely on Ozzie—or more specifically on Ozzie's features.

Needless to say, everyone else felt rather uncomfortable at Tails' out-of-the-blue behavior...but perhaps no one more than the befuddled burrower himself.

"What up?" Ozzie slowly questioned, trying his best to keep the discomfiture out of his voice but failing to a fair extent. _'Please tell me he's not staring cuz I've got a scorpion on my face...'_

Ozzie's sense of unease, along with everyone else's, only grew as Tails pointed a shaking finger at the burrower standing right in front of him. "Wait a second...you're a...a..."

Did someone paint a ghost on a nearby rock or something? Ozzie merely raised an eyebrow at the fox's shaky behavior.

"A...mole...?" he joked lightheartedly as he leaned a hand on the plane; an upturn in the mood would have been great right about now and Ozzie wasn't too certain how much longer he could take the kid's spastic conduct.

He would actually miss it in the next two seconds.

Like a rocket in hyperdrive, Tails whooped in enough jubilant excitement to the point that he launched himself into the air like a rocket, his twin tails whirling like propellers. To say the least, Ozzie nearly lost his jaw after seeing the little guy do such a feat.

Indeed, Sonic and the rest of the gang could only gape at Tails' out-of-character outburst as well.

Cream blinked once and tilted her head with an interested expression. "I guess Tails got more excited in meeting Ozzie than we thought he'd be."

Sonic rubbed the back of his head again, only this time in good humor. "Well, I'll be. Looks like Tails got himself a new idol!"

Amy merely crossed her arms and huffed. "Well, _I_ don't see what Tails is so excited about. So that Ozzie guy knows about machines. Big deal!"

A smirking Sonic tsked and wagged a finger in mock warning. "Careful, Amy," the Blue Blur lightly teased, "Anymore of that jealously and that fur of yours will turn green before ya know it..."

"I am not—"

But Amy never got to fully tell off Sonic because Tails quickly landed before a still stunned Ozzie, grabbed one of the boy's larger hands, and started shaking it so hard that the poor mole actually sympathized with how the planet felt from earthquakes. This kid was churning the Ozzie's brain like a milkshake!

"...Sonic _was _right! I-I-I...This-is-such-an-honor-to-meet-someone-of-y our-skill-and-let-me-just-say-that-the-Tapid—"

A meaty paw clamped the fox's muzzle shut, saving him air.

_'Yeesh, kid, relax already!' _Keeping off a bemused grin required all the willpower within Ozzie—no sense in making the kid mistakenly believe his "new idol" was mocking him. He gestured his other hand—the free hand—as he breathed, "Again..._slower_."

"I'm sorry, sir." Ozzie's dropping shoulders and deep sigh hinted enough warning to Tails.

"I-I mean...sorry. It's just", the bashful lupine looked away, his hands behind his back, and began digging one of his feet into the dirt,"...everyone else besides Sonic always told me that the Talpideans were only a myth since they haven't been seen for about 300 years. So when Sonic told me the story of how he met one of them years ago, of course I was a _little _skeptical at first."

Tails refocused his eyes on the burrower, this time with a meek smile. "But I believe in Sonic and, besides...the legend of your people and their skills with machinery is what inspired me to work with machines in the first place."

_'R-really...?'_ Ozzie went erect with amazement and a deep sense of honor at hearing that last part of the fox's admittance.

He'd always been told how other the species of Mobius scoffed the Talpidean way of engineering, even denouncing it as a way of "barbarians feigning intelligence." To actually hear such praise from a non-mole—and a young one at that, no less—and hear that his own people's technical prowess even invoked inspiration ignited a flame of pride within the earthbound fellow.

In spite of nagging memories of how his uncle continually warned him to "never allow pride to blind him from reality," the adolescent burrower flicked a thumb on his needled, pink nose and huffed with smug content.

_'I could get to like this kid.'_ At least this tyke was more like the young rabbit—overly polite yet good-hearted deep down—and not judgmental or cranky like a certain cotton-candy-colored—

"Hey Tails!"

Ozzie trapped an irate growl at the back of his throat. _'Speak of the devil.'_

Utterly oblivious to the mole's incensed glower, Tails looked back to his friends. "Yeah, Amy...?"

"Has Knuckles called back in yet?" Miss Rose asked, walking up to the engineer, Sonic, Cream, and Cheese in following. She paid absolutely no mind to Ozzie's irked expression either—either that or she simply ignored it.

Tails shook his head and stuck a thumb towards the radio in his plane. "No, no yet, but I'm keeping the link posted anyway, just in case."

Sonic closed his eyes in thought for a few seconds, his expression a touch more serious than usual, before reopening them with his trademark grin back in action. "Welp, I guess we've done all we can do _here_ then. Let's head back, team!"

And so, as Sonic hopped up onto one of the plane's wings, the rest of the group boarded back into the T-Plane. Well, _almost_ everyone...

Cream, she and Cheese being among the last to board, couldn't help but feel something was amiss for some reason. She looked back, only to discover to her concern that Ozzie hadn't moved from his spot next to the plane.

He wasn't even _looking_ at the aero-plane, or its occupants for that matter, but rather at the dilapidated city ruins in the background with what Cream assumed, since she couldn't really see the male's expression from behind him, to be nostalgic longing.

The tiny rabbit hesitated for a second before gathering her courage, walking up to the burly burrower, and tugging on his right hand, earning his attention. "Is something wrong, Ozzie? You _are _coming with us, aren't you?"

Ozzie hummed in genuine puzzlement, not at all expecting the sudden warmth and solidness in his hand. Everything clicked in his mind, though, after he caught Cream's worried expression. "Oh! Sorry...Dozed off."

"Well, get your head out of the clouds and move it! Everybody's waiting on you!"

Amy's irritated tone startled the two Mobians, earning the pink hedgehog three raised eyebrows: one from Ozzie, one from Cream, and one from Cheese. Once again, Cream cringed inside, Cheese joining her this time, while Ozzie narrowed his eyes at the pink Mobian's bossy attitude.

"Uh yeah...sure..." he called out evenly as he and Cream jogged and Cheese fluttered their way up the plane.

_'Your royal heinous...'_ he secretly added with a slight smirk. He, Cream, and Cheese boarded the plane in no time.

But just as the young mole buckled his seat belt and, like his new acquaintances, prepared for takeoff, he took one last look at Talpidea's remains. His face formed a dark glare at the ruins.

Contrary to what Cream believed, he _hadn't_ been looking back at his former home with longing.

Something had called back to him...its hollow, echoing voice tinged with a haunting undercurrent of rumbling.

The voice from long ago had come back...bringing with it a strange yet oddly familiar pulse of darkness. And even though Ozzie wished to take comfort in the fact that he may very well never have to see this skeletal wasteland again, he was no fool. That voice would find its way back to him—one way or another. And if not...well...who's to say?

It could just as well find a way to drag _him_ back to _it _instead one day.

Ozzie only prayed he would die before that day came.

_'Uncle...is that why you wanted me free?'_

* * *

**Feel free to review!**


	6. Daysleeper

**Just so we're clear, Ozzie, as far as this chapter and its related successors are concerned, came onto the scene ****_long _****before Sonic X. In fact, Sonic, at least in my canon, met long him before he met Tails.**

* * *

"No luck, Chris?" asked Tails, the tiny, twin-tailed orange fox seated on the red sofa in the middle of the Thorndyke living room. He had noticed the sulking, frustrated expression of the child stepping out of the nearby hallway, as well as heard the sigh of heavy defeat.

The addressed boy in red and white merely shrugged his shoulders hopelessly and shook his head.

"Nope, I've tried everything. That mole's out like a rock." Chris explained with a sigh, a thumb pointed back at the room he just came from.

Behind the sofa upon which Cream, Amy, Cheese, and Tails were seated, a Japanese man in a butler's attire—Tanaka—simply shook his head, humming in constrained annoyance as he did. "That is precisely, Mr. Chris, why I always advise against _you_ staying up so late."

A portly Hispanic maid—Ella— walked by skillfully with a laundry basket full to the brim with dirty clothes. Her face didn't share Tanaka's annoyance, but it did express exasperation and worry. "Oh, Tanaka is right, I'm afraid. We have a busy day today, and we can't have Ozzie just sleeping the day away like that!"

_'Hmm...'_ a pink hedgehog mused in deep thought. She tapped her chin, eyes closed in concentration. Her intent expression did not go unnoticed by her friends.

Tails gazed at his rose-colored friend in slight wonderment, "Amy? What's up?"

"I'll be_ right_ back." With a smile and a perky wink, the carnation hedgehog leapt off her seat and strolled sprightly towards a door near the end of the hallway to the left side of the couch.

Chris, already cringing at what the hammer-wielding Mobian might do_, _silently gulped a bit at the possible consequences. _'I got a bad feeling about this.'_

Amy, however, noticed the human boy's expression. "Trust me, Chris. I've got a _full_ handle on this— _no_ problem!"

* * *

Opening the door quietly, Amy poked her head into the room to peek at the sleeping figure in the bed.

In contrast to her and the rest of her visually colorful friends, the thickset figure sleeping in the big blue bed had fur of pure charcoal black. The only visible part of him was the head, the rest of his body being covered by a midnight blue blanket. Even then, Ozzie's face couldn't be seen from Amy's perspective, so the pink mammal had to tiptoe her way to the other side of the bed for the highest chance of success.

He looked so peaceful in slumber, his pink nose and peach snout taking in gentle intakes of air before exhaling just as softly. No snoring...no tossing or turning...just as still as a rock...

_'Well __**not**__ for long...' _The carnation Mobian grinned playfully as she began gently poking her earthbound friend's back. "Oh Ozzie..._Ozzie_...Ella's made your favorite—strawberry pancakes with maple syrup."

What did Amy Rose get for her efforts? A mumble from a drooling Ozzie who simply turned over in bed...but Miss Rose wasn't the kind of girl to give up so easily.

"Come on, ya big lug, you know you want some. Wake up."

Unfortunately for Ozzie, Amy Rose also wasn't the kind of Mobian to have much patience...especially after one of his thick hands accidently swatted her left cheek as if it were a fly!

Amy only spent one second staring at the mole in shock, mouth agape and her hand on the spot of her cheek his hand just struck!

_'That does it!'_

Like a lightning bolt, the Piko Piko Hammer materialized with a steamy poof into the enraged lady hedgehog's hand and prepared to be raised down upon the thick skull of a certain mole.

"ALRIGHT, NO MORE MISS NICE GUY! LISTEN UP AND LISTEN UP WELL! YOU BETTER MOVE THAT CARCASS OUTTA BED AND **FAST**, YOU SLEEPING LOG, OR I'M GONNA—"

**BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!**

"Huh?"

As Amy watched in confusion, her hammer still raised in mid-strike, the mole's meaty hand bumped all around the bedpost and the bed before finally landing on the alarm clock's button, silencing the din of the machine for the day.

Then, with a lithe stretch and a bass yawn, Ozzie smacked his lips lightly before he noticed his pink hedgehog friend standing next to his bed, and greeted her pleasantly in his typical laconic manner. He didn't even seem alarmed at the fact he'd just been a second away from being clobbered.

"Morning!"

* * *

**Out of all my chapters, I say this one underwent the least changes.**


	7. Animal

**Set in the future when Amy and the rest of the gang are adults...I only own Ozzie. Everything and everyone else belongs to SEGA, the Sonic Team, and Archie.**

* * *

"Alright, ya big ape! What the heck's been up with you lately?"

Ozzie, sighing in clear frustration and pausing in his trek out of Acorn Manor, didn't have to turn around to know who was addressing him. The voice clued him in well enough. Still, Ozzie couldn't help but gaze anyway into the direction of the voice...and attempt his hardest not to blush darkly when he did.

Red dress with its v-cut revealing a modest amount of cleavage, white pearl necklace, and ruby red shoes—Amy was quite a sight to see. The young man (uh, mole) in front of her, however, though the sight of her in such a dress did make his masculinity respond quite a bit, soon felt a bit too preoccupied at the moment to pay full attention to her appearance.

Thoughts must have dragged him out of reality at hand again. Not that Ozzie was complaining—in fact, the bantam but burly burrower would've preferred to have stared in any other direction besides Amy's right now.

"Thoughts...just thoughts...," he stated in his baritone voice, which had deepened considerably over the years yet still retained a trace of boyishness, as well as lost the asthma that had characterized the mole during his teen years. He at least hoped his answer would satisfy the lovely fireball before him...

Not quite...

"Thoughts about _what_? If you think you're gonna one-word your way outta this one, you've got another thing coming, buster! You've stopped talking to me, you've gotten nervous every time Sonic's near you, and now you're more closed off than usual to everyone, even Cream! Now you're about as open as _Shadow_ is!"

Nothing else shot out of her mouth after a few seconds. The two adults merely stared each other off squarely and stubbornly, neither one willing to admit defeat. Then eventually, albeit very slowly, Ozzie closed his eyes and sighed in surrender.

_'Finally!'_ Amy thought with relief. It was about _time_ he opened up and let her in!

But wait...

_'Why does he look so—No, he doesn't look nervous. It's more like he trying really hard to think about something and how to say it best.' _

The young woman allowed her features to soften in sympathy. "Ozzie, just open up to me and tell me what's on your mind. I promise I won't laugh or do anything to make you upset."

Ozzie took a deep breath, mulling over the hedgehog's words. The problem was that words simply couldn't describe what he was feeling at the moment. He needed something more convincing (for both Amy's sake and his own)...something more definite...

Then the idea hit him.

Suddenly, for reasons Amy Briar Rose couldn't fathom, a small but content grin stretched across the mole's face the moment he gazed at her again. He seemed more relaxed, and his hands weren't clenched anymore.

But something in Ozzie changed. Something about those gleaming eyes almost gave Amy the shivers. Ozzie, by nature, tended to be a very gentle person outside of battle...but the light in his eyes seemed almost primal.

"I'm surprised you haven't realized it yet," he remarked with a smirk that was teasing but not mocking.

His carnation friend twisted her beautiful face in outrage anyway, hands akimbo. "And what's _that _supposed to mean?"

Ozzie didn't answer. He merely continued staring at her with that same animalistic light. Amy didn't take long to figure out why. "Being taken back" became a gross understatement for how the young woman felt the second the reason behind the Talpidean's odd behavior finally clicked in her mind.

"Wh...What do you mean by that?"

Amy heard what Ozzie had said. She simply couldn't believe it.

He had to be mistaken. He wasn't a fossil, sure (at least not physically), but there were other women (and/or men—Amy was never really sure about Ozzie's sexuality) out there. _'Even grown-up, I'm just the annoying fangirl that never shuts up to him. What do__** I**__ have that made him fall for me, of all people?'_

Still grinning, Ozzie shook his head in empathy then tilted his head back skyward, gazing at the heavens as he answered in an airy, sultry murmur, "I can't breathe around you, only pant and shiver...my whole heart screams, never whispers...all because of you..."

Sure enough, he even did the appropriate gestures for each word he uttered out of nostalgia.

Amy swore her heart stopped from the total shock! _'I—I make him feel that—__**all**__ of that?'_

"Ozzie..." she said his name in hushed tone that encouraged the mole to step towards her, his deep brown eyes reflecting the maiden's overwhelmed look, "you don't mean—"

**("****Eternity—Memory of Lightwaves****" from Final Fantasy X-2)**

No more words escaped her lips as she found her face and Ozzie's melting via flesh, making her squeak in utter surprise.

Within the hedgehog's mind, a myriad of emotions run amok: shock, vulnerability, guilt, shame, anger, confusion...until eventually there came a heavenly ease that enveloped Amy's entire body. That sensation slipped into her slowly but surely, spreading from her head to the ends of her toes like the aftereffects of whiskey.

In truth, Amy had only kissed a few times before in her life, but what Ozzie was giving her right this moment felt positively electrifying!

Before long, the sakura hedgehog closed her eyes as she melted into the firm, toned, ebony-furred, peach-skinned body that held her so firmly yet gently. She wrapped her lean arms around his short neck tightly, giggling into his mouth as her hands met the thick muscles of his nape and back. Deeper and deeper, further and further her tongue led her into his being...she felt him react to her response. His heavy arms pressed her harder into his body, wide hands preventing her from escaping.

Except the enraptured woman in the muscled mole's arms wanted no departure from this experience.

She hungered for his force.

She desired his strength.

She yearned for his passion.

Amy Briar Rose, once a crazed fan girl in a time long forgotten, wanted this man with a pain she had never known in her life before. Then reality sunk in. '_Wait! What am I doing?'_

Her eyes shot open before she separated her lips from Ozzie's and began to gently push him away. This was all too much! Just too much...! She couldn't take the sudden onslaught of longing that had momentarily overtaken her.

"Ozzie," she sounded so desperate and scared, "_please_ stop."

He did as she requested to her relief.

Oh, but why did her heart have to break at that sad look in his eyes? She had to rely on all her willpower not to clamp back onto those cute little lips. Yet for reasons unknown even to her, Amy felt panic rise in her heart the moment she noticed the Talpidean releasing his grip on her.

"OZZIE, NO!"

**(Music cuts off suddenly)**

Startled and concerned by the shout, Ozzie maintained his hold on Amy but refrained from pulling her any closer. Amy almost wished he would have. "W-what?"

"It's just...," Amy took a moment to gather her wits back, "It's just the kissing that's bothering me."

Ozzie shot both of his thick, black eyebrows up at this statement. He gestured his snout down to his huge, fleshy hands that held the woman's slender waist. "So...this..."

"Well," Amy blushed, a shy, tiny smile on her muzzle, "I don't _really _mind you holding me like this...In fact...Would you like to be my dance partner for tonight? I haven't had a partner to do it with all night."

Once more, Ozzie gave no verbal answer.

Instead, he simply hoisted the taller woman into his arms bridal style, the lady hedgehog yelping in surprise at the sudden lift. Not that she found anything to complain about—actually, the feel of this man's bulky forearms on her back and legs were doing a bang-up job keeping her distracted...well for the most part, at least.

"Hey, what the—"

"Ever heard of an escort?" the stronger mole asked with a sly, joking wink. Amy was beside herself on what to say at this point, rendered speechless by the boldness she'd not only witnessed but gone through, as well.

She knew one truth for sure, though. _'Who knew Ozzie could be such a caveman?'_

* * *

**Too mushy?—good, then I did my job right. ;)**


	8. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

**This chapter takes place in the Sonic X continuity. Warning: Sibling fluff dead ahead...**

**I own none of these characters or elements—only Ozzie, any other OCs, and these stories.**

* * *

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick—

**WHAM**

A pillow flew straight into the face of the offending grandfather clock and landed smack-dab on the dark-brown wooden floor, that infernal ticking continuing in an almost mocking manner.

Can clocks even mock? Oh never mind.

The Mobian responsible for the discarded cushion's current position grunted in annoyance, not bothering to get up from his bed, much less raise his head.

He tiredly opened his eyes, the dimness of the room nothing due to his night-vision. The browns of his irises were cold and bitter, their depths no less unwelcoming and lifeless.

Ozzie heaved a heavy sigh and reclosed his eyes, trying once more to keep them shut. They shot back open ten seconds later.

_'Damn it...now I can't sleep at all. What the hell happened to me being a heavy sleeper?'_

Usually he could sleep "like a log" (as Amy so eloquently said about his circadian rhythm one time)...but thanks to that nightmare, getting shut-eye was completely out of the question. Especially since the mole was in no rush to have a repeat of that discomforting blast to the past.

_'I haven't had a nightmare about Uncle Gabriel since we parted ways years ago. Why now?'_

Ozzie grumbled as he finally lifted his sore body from the twin-sized mattress he shared with his step-sister Cream. He popped his back then flipped the crimson blanket off of his body and draped his thick legs over the side of the bed, his huge, white sock-clad feet dangling. He absently scratched his pudgy belly as he smacked his lips, taking instant note of the dryness of his mouth.

_'A glass of water sounds pretty nice now.'_

A harsh cough suddenly gave out from Ozzie's throat, the mole's unusable vocal cords rattling from the expelled air. The next few minutes ended up being spent up by the adolescent bumping a fist to his broad chest while hacking out nastily dry sounds from his pharynx. To his relief, Cream and Cheese didn't stir.

_'On second thought, strike that last statement: a glass of water sounds like heaven.'_

Just before Ozzie could slide off his rump and place his feet on the floor, however, a tiny whimper reached his hidden, sensitive ears. Confused and slightly concerned, Ozzie turned his head back towards the other side of the bed.

Tucked in between the blanket and resting her head on a huge, white, fluffy pillow, Cream, her tiny chao nestled in her arms, snored delicately as silver moonlight descended through the wall-length window and bathed her and her friend in tints of metallic gray.

Despite his troubles, Ozzie instinctively smiled at how much the two kids looked like angels this way. They were just as innocent and sweet as the light made them out to be.

The midnight air did not share Ozzie's sentiment, unfortunately; it slipped an icy finger down Cream's shoulder, forcing her to tremble and frown at its touch. Cheese faced the same treatment, cradling himself closer into his mistress's chest for warmth.

They needn't worry.

A strong arm, fur as black as the encroaching dark, tightly but gently wrapped around the tiny frames of the hapless children and drew them closer into the warm, strong body of their protector. In response, the young rabbit snuggled contently into the pudgy, thickset form of her stepbrother, earning her a drowsy but caring smile from the older mammal.

Ozzie rolled his eyes skyward and sighed. Of all the times for these kids to be needy—and this instance didn't even _begin_ to compare to when these munchkins were awake. At least there weren't any flowers Ozzie had to wear over his head this time.

Being an older sibling sucked sometimes...

In fact, moments like these (besides Amy's insistent nagging of course) made the teenager wonder whether he'd been better off on his own, having to worry only about his own well-being and survival. Though he missed the company of his uncle even during that time, Ozzie firmly believed back then that he was content with living a life of solitude.

Sonic and Tails, as well as Amy and the rest of the gang, largely succeeded in changing his mind, but there were still moments when Ozzie couldn't help asking himself which life had been better for him in the long-run: the one he has now or the one he had before.

As he gazed down and caught the calm smiles of security on both Cream and Cheese's faces as the children clung to him like cubs to a parent, Ozzie finally realized the truth.

Yeah, being an older sibling sucked sometimes...but it also had its moments. And moments such as this were better than all the times Ozzie spent alone back in the day, doing all he could to either distract himself from his dark thoughts or tackle them head-on.

And they were better—_infinitely_ better—than the moments in which the mole, so tired with the struggles of daily life and the weight of the past and uncertainties of the future, considered ending everything right then and there.

Life may have become harder after his fateful encounter with Sonic and Tails—but it had also become brighter and sweeter.

For that reason, Ozzie let his head flop back onto the pillow. He supposed he could survive without water until morning.

_'So much for getting out of bed...'_ he mused with a faint grin.

* * *

**I sincerely hoped you all enjoyed this piece of literature from me.**


	9. Hollow Man

**Yesterday was not a good day for me for the mere reason that I can't figure out why. Ozzie is the only character I own here.**

* * *

He hated this.

He hated all of this.

Who did they think they were?

Who the hell did these tight-ass, saccharine slaves to the system think they were, cooping him up in this empty, sterile room? Where in God's name did they get the right?

It wasn't like he tried to kill anybody. Or himself for that matter.

He'd only gotten angry. That's all. Everybody does that, so what reason was there to cart him off like some rabid animal?

His voice emerged as a low, savage growl. "Idiots."

They were all idiots, every last fucking one of them. Especially her.

"That's pretty harsh, coming from you."

Ozzie stiffened at the familiar voice but refused to turn around.

Why had he come here?

Sonic sat down beside him, no usual grin on his face. He looked almost as blank as Ozzie. Neither said anything for a few seconds, the pair looking out the only window of this room.

"How you hanging in there, buddy?" the blue hedgehog murmured as he kept his eyes on the window.

_'What do you think?'_

But Ozzie knew he could never signal that to Sonic (since the mole couldn't speak). The guy was only trying to help him. Besides, Sonic was one of the few people Ozzie could also never stay mad at.

So with only some reluctance, the mole finally looked to his friend—only to see Sonic looking at him as well. They held the stare-off for a few more seconds.

"How long are they going to keep you in here?"

Ozzie merely shook his head, humming in the negative, his mouth a taut line.

Sonic nodded in understanding. "That long, huh?"

Silence came between them once more.

"What happened?" At Ozzie's dull stare, Sonic rethought his question. "I mean, what happened that made you tear up your room like that?"

_'He came this far for me. Why deny him an answer?'_

Ozzie placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

The Bloodlink would do the rest.

"Amy."

* * *

_It wasn't true._

_She couldn't have._

_She was smarter than that._

_She knew what would happen. _

_So why did she do it regardless?_

_She hated being undermined._

_That's why._

_Her and her stupid feminism..._

_Thinking he'd been restricting her..._

_All he'd done was warn her about it._

_Tail's airship was no toy, after all, even if the fox was still a minor._

_Tails himself said so. Sally said so. Rotor said so. Even Sonic said so._

_But that stupid girl...she refused to listen._

_And now look where she landed herself._

_Did she think no one would worry?_

_'Why didn't you listen, Amy Rose?'_

_'Why didn't you listen to me?'_

_'Why didn't you?'_

_'Why...'_

_Hands tightened._

_'You selfish...'_

_Teeth were bared._

_'...arrogant...'_

_Muscles tightened. _

_'...ignorant...'_

_His left rose up..._

_'...little—'_

_...and came down on his lamp, smashing it to pieces._

_All Ozzie remembered after that was red._

_Lots and lots of red._

* * *

_Sonic kept his eyes closed the whole time._

_But he knew the Bloodlink didn't care about that._

_He could still see his friend—or more accurately, the shell of his friend._

_Swearing, screaming, smashing..._

_Livid, distraught, torn...hurt..._

_Nothing in his reach was safe, not even the walls or the ceiling._

_Anything he could get his hands on, he destroyed in mere seconds._

_Only when the adrenaline rush from his emotions ran out, did he stop..._

_His entire body going numb from energy lost in the rampage..._

_Falling straight over in exhaustion..._

_Eyes dim and glassy..._

_Limbs splayed out..._

_Mind a blur..._

_Chest heaving..._

_In and out..._

_In and out..._

_Blank..._

* * *

Nothing came after that.

Sonic preferred things that way.

He would rather not see the outcome.

He'd already seen the damage done...

And there'd be much damage control to do, as a result.

The real question was this: what now? What could still be salvaged?

When he no longer felt Ozzie's hand on his shoulder, Sonic reopened his eyes.

His friend lay back behind him on the bed, hands beneath his head.

For the first time in a while, Sonic had his smile back—or a feeble ghost of it at the very least.

"You're looking pretty calm all of a sudden. To be honest, I think it's been a while since you've been this chilled."

Ozzie gave him a faint smirk and shook his head as he crossed his legs together. _'I guess I fooled you well then, Blue.'_

"Energy...," he whispered. His staccato wording was unable to keep his deep, dark voice from echoing in the room. "Savin' it..."

Sonic gave him a thumbs-up. Even in an emotional hurricane, that mole really knew how to think. _'Good ol' Ozzie...'_

"Oh, by the way, Oz," the blue hedgehog could tell he caught his friend's attention when Ozzie lifted his head up.

The Azure Wind put a hand on his buddy's shoulder and squeezed it, gently smiling. "She's gonna be okay."

Ozzie closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief through his nose. "Good...good."

Laying his back down again and closing his eyes, the mole smiled for real.

For the first time since this disaster started, there would be hope.

He'd get the chance to tell her how badly he felt for her.

Right after he finished scolding her, of course.

* * *

**Funny, I actually feel a little better after making this.**


End file.
